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Women's Tennis Upset By Ninth-Ranked Bruins

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -Washington's sixth-ranked women's tennis team suffered only its fourth loss of the season this afternoon as the ninth-ranked UCLA Bruins upset the Huskies, 5-2, at the L.A. Tennis Center. Washington's two seniors, Claire Carter and Erin Hoe, led the Huskies (17-4, 4-2 Pac-10) with straight-set singles wins but the Bruins (13-6, 4-1) received strong showings from the lower half of their singles lineup, sweeping the fourth through sixth singles matches to secure the victory.

UW's two decorated seniors continue to make the most of their final few matches, as both Carter and Hoe have been on fire of late. The 29th-ranked Carter pasted UCLA's 16th-ranked Jackie Carleton 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1 singles. Carter, a three-time All-American and second on UW's all-time wins list, has won six matches in a row and ten of her last 11. Ranked a career-high 53rd, Erin Hoe continued her breakout senior campaign by downing Feriel Esseghir 6-4, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. The Hawaiian native's team-leading 25th win ties her with Mary Reilly for third-most career singles wins in Husky history with 75, trailing only Carter's 88 and three-time All-American Kristina Kraszewski who racked up 111 from 1998-2001.

UCLA prevailed in the other four singles matches. At second singles, 20th-ranked junior Dea Sumantri dropped a close first set to No. 52 Daniela Bercek, 7-5. Sumantri rebounded for a 6-4 second set win but since UCLA had already earned the necessary four points to win, the third set was played as a 10-point super-tiebreak which Bercek won to complete the dual. Sarah Gregg defeated UW's Dinka Hadzic at fourth singles, 6-4, 6-1. Freshman Saskia Nauenberg struggled against the Bruins Lauren Fisher at fifth singles and lost in sraight sets, as did sophomore Stephanie Svanfeldt who went down 6-4, 6-1 at sixth singles.

Doubles play also went the way of the Bruins, who swept all three matches to take the early 1-0 lead. Washington's fourth-ranked team of Carter and Sumantri were upset at No. 1 doubles by Bercek and Fisher. The Huskies are only 7-13 in the doubles point.

Things don't get any easier for the women who now face eighth-ranked USC tomorrow, April 10 at noon in a match with major ramifications on the Pac-10 standings.